Books
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Review: Banquet of Lies by Michelle Diener
In Sweden one fateful night, the life of a young English woman changes forever. Giselle Barrington witnesses the murder of her father, a spy for the British crown. While in Sweden, Giselle’s (Gigi) father procures a dangerous document that if discovered could mean a political nightmare for England, France, Sweden, and Russia! It’s for this document he is killed for. He gave the document to Gigi to keep safe shortly before he will killed. After witnessing the murder Gigi knows three things–she must take the document safely back to England and second, the person who killed her father was also British which means there is a traitor in her father’s circle, and…
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Announcement: Winner of The Secret Daughter of the Tsar by Jennifer Laam
And the winner of The Secret Daughter of the Tsar by Jennifer Laam is….. Grace T. (follows on Twitter @Bookwithoutpics) The winner will be notified via email. Thank you to everyone who entered and a huge thank you to the publisher for making this giveaway possible!
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Review: The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert
Reading this book was like peeling the petals off of a flower, each petal a little more beautiful than the one before. This novel is a complex family saga surrounded by the beauty of the budding botanical world. We begin with the base born Henry Whittaker who dares to dream and make something of himself. After stealing his way into some wealth, his father’s employer discovers that poor Henry has been robbing him blind. Instead of turning him over to the authorities, he sends Henry on a voyage with the famous explorer Captain Cook. On that voyage Henry learns a great deal about botany and life, and when he returns to…
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Review: Mrs Poe by Lynn Cullen
The greatest love affairs are between two souls that speak to each other in a language that no one else but them can understand. On a fateful night in 1845, Frances Osgood meets the most famous writer in all of New York society, the dark and mysterious Edgar Poe. From the moment they are introduced, Frances can’t help but feel a strange and unexplainable connection to Poe. A writer herself, they run in the same circles of New York society. At the time, Frances’s philandering husband has taken up with a rich divorcee and basically abandoned Frances and their children. Frances and the girls are staying at the home of…
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Giveaway: The Secret Daughter of the Tsar by Jennifer Laam
Surround yourself with the opulence and mystery of the Romanov dynasty with this intriguing historic novel! Thanks to the publisher, I am ecstatic to be able to offer a copy of The Secret Daughter of the Tsar by Jennifer Laam for your enjoyment! Giveaway runs 10/15/13 to 10/22/13 Winners will be announced 10/23/13. (how to enter) On this blog you must leave a comment to be entered in the giveaway. Your comment MUST include your email so I can contact you….if you do not enter an email in the comments your entry will be void. Winners will be notified by email the day after the giveaway closes and have five days…
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Review: The Secret Daughter of the Tsar by Jennifer Laam
In 1917, Imperial Russia was coming to an end. The Bolsheviks came to power and the powerful Romanov family was sent into exile. After being held captive, they were all supposedly executed by firing squad in 1918. Tsar Nicholas, his wife The Empress and Grand Duchess Olga, and their four children were all executed on that fateful day ending the Romanov dynasty. But what if there was a fifth child? That’s what author Jennifer Laam does in her novel The Secret Daughter of the Tsar. Veronica is finishing up her post graduate research and if she’s being honest…it’s not going well. Her supervisors aren’t impressed with the direction her research is going, not to mention…
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Review: Rasputin’s Shadow by Raymond Khoury
In the coal mines of turn of the century Russia, a group of unsuspecting workers suddenly and completely without warning they all turn aggressive, violent, and paranoid. Shortly following the strange and savage incident, a scientist and Grigory Rasputin blow up the mine to conceal all evidence of the incident. In modern day New York City a Russian diplomat seems to have jumped to his death. Though it appears to be a suicide, there are some tell tale signs that he was more likely pushed from the window. The owners of the apartment Leo Sokolov, a retired physics teacher from Russia and his wife, are also missing. FBI agent Sean Reilly is…
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Interview: Rasputin’s Shadow by Raymond Khoury
As part of the Rasputin’s Shadow blog tour, author Raymond Khoury has done a fabulous Q & A! Without further ado, please welcome Raymond Khoury to The Lit Bitch! Q: RASPUTIN’S SHADOW is a great mix of technology, history, and action, but there is a little romance too. How do you work to balance these in the novel? A: I guess it just comes from practice, really. I’ve been a storyteller for years, whether in screenplays of in my previous five novels, and I suppose it’s just a personal preference for how to tell a story, for the pacing, for having a gut feeling about when those different aspects should…
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Review: Havisham by Ronald Frame
What is it about Catherine Havisham that you remember the most from the classic Great Expectations? Is it all the clocks stuck on a specific time? The old decaying wedding dress? Whatever it is about Miss Havisham, she haunts not only the novel but our memory long after reading Great Expectations. Do you find yourself wondering what her life might have been like prior to being jilted at the alter? What might her back story have been? I know I thought about this the entire time I was reading Great Expectations. In Ronald Frame’s novel, Havisham, we get a chance to see what Catherine Havisham’s life was like before she…
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Review: The Girl You Left Behind by Jojo Moyes
1916 occupied France, a young artist named Edouard LeFevre, leaves his wife, Sophie, to fight in the Great War. Before he left, he painted her portrait and titled it ‘The Girl You Left Behind’. This painting has become her most prized possession. When her husband and is imprisoned, Sophie clings to the painting. Unfortunately the painting is admired by many in the small village…particularly the local Kommandant. He not only falls in love with the painting but with the real life subject as well and essentially holds Sophie captive. Sophie is soon faced with some tough decisions. She loves her husband desperately but she is stuck in an awkward situation with the Kommandant’s attention.…